Episode 8 / Lombardi's - The First Pizzeria in America. (Little Italy New York City)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- The Last Days of Little Italy: An Original Documentary Series.
Since 1905 Gennaro Lombardi crafted pizza in the United States using his bakers trade he learned from Naples. Lombardi is credited with developing New York Style pizza and making Lombardi's the first pizzeria in the United States. Still located in the Little Italy section of Manhattan offering its beautiful, smoky-crusted coal oven baked pizza, topped with purist tomato sauce, fresh whole milk mozzarella, and basil, keeping locals and visitors alike coming back.
Little Italy, a historic haven for immigrant families from the old country, was once threatened by an ever-expanding Chinatown. But now the fatal blow is being delivered by the gentrifiers. Corporations, yuppies, and chain stores all moved in. How did Little Italy transform itself from a working class neighborhood of tenement buildings to the third most expensive zip code in the United States?
Part funny, part sad, the series explores the impact gentrification is having on Little Italy's long-term residents. The striking imagery captures the neighborhood before it is completely erased by sterile trendy stores and upper middle class sameness.
Will New York City lose another cultural touchstone to the forces of greed?
A Nolita Films Production
Written and Directed by Paul Stone
Produced by Claudia Montano
Cinematography & Editing by Paul Stone
Shot in New York City, Rome, Amalfi Coast & Puglia, Italy.
I have eaten there since 1987. Great pizza great caprese salad fantastic food overall
Stay strong Lombardis💪🇮🇹🇺🇲
I could listen to this guy for years. Good fellow
Extremely interesting and informative informative..
We used to live in North Jersey and whenever we were in The City we'd get Lombardi's pizza---the BEST! I can taste it to this day. Here in the midwest, although Indianapolis is a nice city to live in, not much Italian culture or food. I miss that pizza and thank God they're still in business, an icon in Little Italy, God bless them.
@@sgiovangelo47 thanks for watching!
@@PaulStoneFilms I saw a brief pop up on how to donate to PSFilms but can’t determine how to contribute to your efforts; please advise, thanks for doing a marvelous service for the Italian American community everywhere!
I live a half a block away on Mott and John has always been a true gentleman to the community.
100 %!
My father and his 10 siblings were raised on the same "peasant" food in West Philadelphia. Made them strong, tough and successful
I love pasta and peas
Saint Donato’s 65th st
@@greggsiano5920 My mother was from 61st & Girard, Our Lady of the Rosary! My buddy Steve was St. Donato's and remembers when Cardinal Krol told them they had to admit other ethnicities than Italians!!!
@@jimdellavecchia4594 63st was the border when I was growing up ool
Germantown area in Philly had tons of Italians back when.
Sad to think about the changes. In my city "little Italy" is also changing. All the baptisms, weddings and funerals, all the memories walking those streets. Thanks again.
@@salvatoreala9352 You’re welcome!
@@PaulStoneFilms There was an Italian guy in my city who was an accordion prodigy. He even did a command performance for the Queen. Anyway, I did some digging and found out that his parents sent him to The Pietro Dario School for piano and accordion in New York. This would have been the late forties. I think Pietro Dario had also been a vaudeville performer but it's very hard to find anything. If anyone knows about the school or Dario, it would be much appreciated. Thanks. Also thought it might be a good idea for a short film done in your style. Cheers.
where
It's the migration patterns. We are getting Little Beijing Little Karachi Little Tehran Little Hanois Little Bombays. The old school European enclaves are disappearing in most big cities in the US.
Never been outside Europe but i want to go there, i hope soon. Nice people. My dream is to go the location with the bridge of my favourite movie: Once upon a time in America.... Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone for the music...... two genius from Rome Travestevere.... Fantastico film 🇮🇹
God bless & best of luck to you!
We spent Mondays on Mulberry Street during the 80’s miss those days…Taormina, Cafe Biondo….
Its grazy how the neighborhoods you grew up in, 30 or 40 years later going back they all change. Whether its a neighborhood in NYC, Chicago, Syracuse, Philadelphia, Miami, Denver, Albany, Richmond, they all change incredibly.
I thoroughly enjoyed this docu series. Thanks for the entertainment and may mulberry street live on!
@@freshramses you rock! Thnx
Sono d'accordo. Grazie mille!
Grew up in Brooklyn and Lombardi's was the go to for the best Pizza. Retired living in Florida, but when visiting NY that's the one stop I make before heading back home. Ciao
@@evelynandersson2368 Agree. 100%
miss the italian neighborhoods
Born and raised in the Bronx. Love the authenticity of your work!
@@BaBaYaga1999-p7u You’re the best! Appreciate the support!
Thanks so much for this series my grandparents came here from Naples, Bari, and Sicily many years ago. Stay strong Pisanos 🙏🇮🇹
"Years Ago..." is a phrase every Italian American has heard coming from their elders.
👏👏👏👏👏 that was awesome and sad at the same time
I really wish you could make a huge documentary telling these stories. My family lived on mullberry st. These stories need to be told. Thanks for these.
@@kingpuppo5880 Prego!
100% agree
My mother’s family grew up on Elizabeth Street. Her sister’s family then moved to Mulberry Street because the family headquarters (social club) was there.
@@subwayjoefrombrooklyn4471 where on Elizabeth st did your family come from my mother came from Elizabeth st and my father from Mulberry st and after they got married they raised us on Broome St.
First time I went to NYC I decided to have Lombardi's as my first pie... STILL glad to have made that choice to this day :)
Great pizza. Great people. Thnx!
I've never been to NY but I enjoy watching these interviews. So much history by great story tellers.
@@xwatson thanks for watching!
The guy in this video is a well-known murderer & heroin dealer. He was a capo with the Genovese family
If you ever go to Lombardis you have to try the Clam Pie it’s Outta this World !
Great job my friend. Excellent series!!
@@RealSAE thanks for watching!
So many memories thank you, paul. As i am a second generation, italy America family who grew up on Baxter street
@@Joeybklyn. My favorite street!
A lot of memories of Baxter st park we played all kinda sports there Basketball Stickball Football Hockey and Ringoleevio!
Great series you are doing, I've been to Lombardi's years ago. John is a great guy. The photo of him at the 3:00 mark is when he was in the army, he is a Vietnam veteran. He's a hard working guy, he really built up Lombardis after it was slowing down in the 1990's.
John is one of a kind. He was always there with the support!
He was a gangster a kiIIer & a drug dealer
Once again, a home run. Thanks.
Thanks!
Lombardi’s . DiPalo ,Puglia, are basically the last of the old school Italian eateries/ shops left . In NYC every culture is being jettisoned. Blacks in Harlem, Polish in the East Village and North and South Brooklyn. Greeks in Astoria, Latinos in El Barrio , Jews in the lower east side. Asians in Chinatown. Irish everywhere. It’s happening all over . And I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few more Just like the gentleman said in the video.
The corporations won. They have succeeded in making New York City a bland shopping mall.
I’ll tell you something funny…I went to Puglias on the corner there and had a decent meal, but when you ask people who live on Mulberry if they like it, they tell you they don’t even know what you’re talking about. They don’t go there and they live right there! Probably because it’s a huge tourist spot and they don’t want to deal with it. They never even heard of it!
@@jerseyguy1274that’s probably because the people who live on Mulberry street now are tourists themselves.
@@PaulStoneFilmsPretty much. I remember when big chains started showing up in Manhattan in the mid 90s it was the beginning of the end for the cool and unique mom and pop stores in the city. My best friends parents had a store in Midtown and that place is now a building for Bank of America.
The really good pizza shops and Italian restaurants aren't in Manhattan and gentrified areas of Brooklyn. I'd say outer boroughs do better.
Sending ❤ from Toronto
These shorts are incredible ! Congratulations ! So beautiful 🐸 Greetings from Mexico
@@TrudyRank Gracias!
Great films, great work, I'm sorry you're documenting the end of something historic but nonetheless it needs to be documented. This is important work. Thank for this.
Thanks Lou! Means a lot!
Lombardi's pizza is out of this world delish❤
A great pizza spot, with some history. I miss old Little Italy. I caught the last of the real thing in the 60s. Yea, it was still there in the 70s and 80s but you could feel the change. Everything in NYC is different now. I guess it's always been that way.
@@Peter7966 I’m friends with everyone in the series and they told me how great it was in the 60s.
I love being an Italian from New York City
@@PhilNolasco me too!
Fantastic as always Pal!
Thank you! Cheers!
❤
(4:36) He has a fabulous definition of happiness!!!
Love that place, it’s still good after all these years
@@donh1572 the best pizza and the best people.
Love this series…..Great job!
Thanks John. Means a lot!
Really enjoying this series
@@ShakespeareCafe Thanks!
I truly wish I lived near an honoured establishment like this that I could support, on a *frequent* basis.
@@ricosuave8123 come visit!
These are great, really well done doc
@@mikeydubbz1 thanks mike I really appreciate it
Growing up in Little italy and going back now it seems and is for the most part except for a few people and places just a completely different place a real shame if you will. I miss the days of hanging out in that old donut shop that was on Prince and Mott before going into school at St. Patricks.
Thanks for watching!
NYC should impose some sort of commercial rent control and historic preservation measures for these iconic businesses that are not able to continue because of the ridiculous rent and operating costs. These places are what gives the city it's unique character.
@@guyelluzzi2705 Agree 100%
my old friend john best pizza in nyc
Shame times have changed not for the good😢
Your videos are awesome!!
@@mikerathgeber8057 thanks!
I love Soho❤️
@@AnthonyMorroni thanks for watching!
I feel sad. I want community. FUCK CORPORATE GREED.
Big time I miss it!
Love it
Excellent
Thanks
I've been eating there since 1905
Lombardi’s closed in 1983 and reopened down the street years later. Maybe the first, but many others have been running continuously for much much longer.
WE LOVE YOUR VIDEOS WE ARE AT A CAFE WATCHING THIS VIDEO WE ARE AT BORGETTO SICILY GREETINGS
@@marcvolpe8252 Grazie!!!
Ohh it’s John "Johnny Hollywood" Brescio! A Genovese 😊, power house.
RIP Alleva…
Thats what I struggle to understand. The Italians have been there for such a long time and never bought the premises when they were affordable.
Who the hell can afford $20kUSD a month? How much would you have to turn over. A LOT!
It’s a really long story. But to sum it up quickly the best answer is hindsight is 20/20. I think this question might have been answered in a past episode. Thanks for watching!
Try the Clam Pie; it's the best in the city.
@@nicholasgregoris3958 haha thanks for watching!
You know how to tell stories. Longer versions would or should be Netflix material.
Thank you!
It’s sad the greed
You should do a series on the last day of Hell's Kitchen. Grew up at 458 W. 50th st. 4 doors from Jimmy Coonan's sister. My old friends call it the Gayborhood now instead of Hell's Kitchen. We got history here. Mostly Irish with some Puerto Ricans. West Side Story was originally about the Kitchen and the intermingally of the two, Irish and Puerto Ricans. Hollywood changed it to Italians.
Everything always disappears…it’s nothing new. Nobody from Italy is flocking to the US to live, not like when my family came to Ellis Island. Those days are over. Different events dictate. Anyone who is from Italy that wanted to be here is already here. Generations died off, their children didn’t carry on tradition. Same thing happened in Philly. Try running into someone who speaks Italian now, not gonna happen. The tradition dies off, the women are working not staying at home and cooking. You need two or three jobs per household to make it. So yeah….I could see a place like Applebees going in there pushing people around because that’s what the tourists would want. They don’t eat real food and besides that, the local guy can’t afford the overhead. I don’t know why tourists go there anymore anyway because there’s really nothing to see anymore. It’s like a big flea market there with all the foreign junk sellers. Bracelets and coffee mugs…who the hell wants that?
As much as I enjoy watching your videos, I cant help but feel sad after. NY is dying. The real NY. It will be unrecognizable soon. The NY accent is dying. Thank God I have tons of family spread out throughout the burroughs, and I discuss stuff like this with my cousins, but, its dead. Sad. It will only exist in the movies.
I agree 100 %.
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, and the New York accent has absolutely changed.
I feel bad for the kids these days because they have absolutely no clue what it is to grow up in a nice Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn or in little Italy.
@@dinobravo23 totally agree
116th and pleasant ! Does the cat still own the building lombardi’s is in on mulberry
Lombardis is on spring street not mulberry
Is the Italy sign still up??
@@whitneyaviles9265 yup!
Yes
20k a month is high way robbery .
@@mafia_dave32 the series was shot in 2016. It’s even more expensive now.
@@PaulStoneFilms This is by design . The land is worth more than the culture to these bastards .
@@PaulStoneFilms That's one hell of a lot of pizzas.
On the Rents: You keep good business by keeping a business, in business.
Greed! Downfall of America!
That is a Colby Pitbull terrier between the two men...3:55
Indeed.
Just like the Lower EastSide. Miss the old city. Gentrification. Sadly it is progress. Whatever
@@elvirvukelj3520 🇮🇹
All that's LEFT is the restaurants. The real Italians moved out DECADES ago. There's nothing very Italian about the area and there hasn't been for a really long time.
Not all. This series documents the Italians that are still here and never left including me. Thanks for watching.
(Little Italy New York City) / Lombardi's - The First Pizzeria in America.
It's a shame he doesn't own the building he is in
He probably does, he’s a made guy in the biggest mafia family in the country.
@@mikesulyvahn7143 How do you know that
@@mikesulyvahn7143 That's bullshit.
@@SK-bk3yh He doesn't know that he hears gossip or whatever and goes along with it.
@@SK-bk3yhhow does he “know” that..? Everyone knows that. He was one of the most well known capos in the Westside. He has numerous murders attributed to him & he spread heroin throughout the neighborhood for years
I hear all the time about how much NY has changed! That's what happens when you Vote Democrat! and the weird thing is they keep Voting for them! I don't understand it!
I hate that Chinatown has overtaken the neighborhood
New York will never be the same. Too much division. I'm glad I left that dump
Me Too. Dump Is The Right Word.
@@alking6633 we are glad too !! Who needs people like you!!
lol anyone good him yet 😅
haha
im shocked they dont own that property.
never new this guy in mob
It’s like that episode of Sopranos when Tony goes back to the old neighborhood and it’s over run by immigrants and blacks
Not the same, little Italy is being taken over by real estate developers who drive up the rents for mostly white rich folks.
The Chinese invented the pizza and like usual, the Italians copied them.
The Chinese never ate cheese. Many are lacto-intolerant and cheese makes them sick. Tomatoes came from the New World. China is a vast country with regional cuisines. In much of China they eat rice and don't have wheat. Rice cakes without cheese and without tomato sauce sounds like a strange pizza. Maybe the Chinese were trying to make risotto?
Nonsense.!!